Three straight bullets for Canaan

After two days with the racing blown out (literally) through too much wind, day four of the Little America's Cup held out of New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court, began with no wind causing an initial postponement until the wind filled in from the WSW at 12 knots with flat water.

Missing from action today was Steve Clark and nephew Oliver Moore on Aethon following their capsize yesterday, destroying the Cogito wing they were sailing with. Unfortunately they were joined on the sidelines by the French crew Antoine Koch and Jérémie Lagarrigue of Patient Lady VI which capsized prior to the start of the first race.

And then there were four. The day belonged to the LAC defenders, Canadians Fred Eaton and Magnus Clarke and Canaan, which won all of today's three races by a large margin, in particular showing great pace on the downwind legs. Canaan seemed to relish the lighter winds and flatter water, her crew appearing to push harder than they had yesterday, when it had been a closer run competition with the Australian hotshots Glenn Ashby and James Spithill sailing Alpha.

Alpha finished second in all three races today Ashby and Spithill showing their racing skills - or how skilful you can be on a borrowed boat! - port tacking the fleet again in today's second race ducking Invictus and Orion and passing ahead of Canaan. However more often than not they found themselves playing with Alpha and Invictus, which seem well matched around the race course. This is fortunate for the final two days of competition will move on to match racing with Canaan up against Orion and Alpha up against Invictus.

The final casualty of the day was Orion which suffered a capsize en route back to the New York Yacht Club. Fortunately the boat was recovered before she fully inverted and should be racing tomorrow. (See more of Helena Darvelid's photos below)

Fred Eaton is looking forward to the match-racing. He recognised however “we have a big target on our back. Now we enter into the game they know how to play.” They are up against 33rd America's Cup winning helmsman James Spithill, albeit on the wire for Glenn Ashby, rather than in his familar position. Say no more. If Orion has a speed deficit on the newer boat, then it maybe their tactical and match racing skill will prevail.

Latest Comments

Hello dear James, Obviously, Canaan is the most sophisticated C Class ever built, a super wonderful achivment. However, in your comments, describing the moving of the rudders under the transom as an innovating feature seems to be a slight usurpation. The first hanging rudder ever put under a C-Class transom was on "Miss Lancia", the 1978 italian challenger. This was copied later in 1980 on "Patient Lady 5" and tried again on the challenger "Signor G".